Any tips for developing calluses on your knuckles?

Question

I'm doing knuckle push-ups and they hurt like h**l. Any tips on how I can condition them and make them harder so I can do it better? I'm in goju-ryu karate by-the-way.

Answer 1

Don't go messin' up your knuckles, dude. Arthritis is a major ***** which is what you get when you go around punching things like rocks or brick walls all the time. All those cyber warriors who scream about Iron Palm now are gonna be screaming in agony from arthritis when they're in their 30s.

If you wanna build up punching strength get a punching bag. Anybody who doesn't use one is either too stupid or too poor.

Answer 2

Very simple. Find a flat stone wall, place a piece of paper on it and start punching. Dont punch to hard, just enough to feel pain. The reason you place a piece of paper over it is so that you dont damage your knuckle skin. Do this everyday and in a month you will feel a tremendous difference. Trust me I do this type of training too.

Answer 3

Use wraps or duct tape on them. You do not want calluses on your knuckles they will crack and bleed and generally are counter productive. You can toughen your skin by working out and punching hard ; however use a little padding to protect the skin. It will toughen over time the right way.

Answer 4

I'm not a huge fan of the whole knuckle thing, but a good old makiwara works fine - cheap too.

Make your own by wrapping some sisal rope around a tree, basketball goal, or post and punch to your hearts content.  

Should cost you about $5 for enough rope to do what you want.

Answer 5

As Tao J said a Makiwara works wonders. I am very suprised that their is not one at your school.

Here is an explination:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makiwara

Answer 6

well first make sure you are doing the push-ups on your first two knuckle. If it still hurts after that you should punch the punching bag a lot. It will hurt at first but it will help you. I tried it and now when i do push-ups or punch the bag it doesn't hurt anymore. Hope that helped.